This may be the most prescient of all the Vonnegut books I have read thus far. I find so many connections to the people out in the world today trying to do good things but are seen as wrongdoers or crazy and Eliot Rosewater. His embodiment of a style of populism that is so relevant today. That realities of the ordinary people and the wealthy are so wildly different they create "insanity" in the disparity. Vonnegut may have had a keen eye on what people saw as "fake" or "sane" back then and really tapped into a mindset of what it actually means to be a man of the people.

I think this book is a perfect companion piece to Slaughterhouse-5 and continues to flesh out Kilgore Trout/Tramalfadore in great ways. It continues the choatic thought process of war but it brings it home to Indiana, and this war is now between wealthy ideals and ordinary or "poor" reality. It ends in a way that is slightly hopeful, and although parts of it that are darkly cynical and almost nihilistic, I think Vonnegut gives power to the ordinary citizen in a book like this.

Yeah this book is awesome! And suprisingly so... I went in with very low expectations.

I scanned through a lot of old posts on here searching for any thread related to this book and can't seem to find any. I should keep looking because I would love to discuss this book further.

I want to end this post with a quote. Without spoiling a character here is very close to suicide and has to argue an existential queston passionately:

"Other people say, 'Hello' or 'Goodbye!' We always say, 'Excuse me', no matter what we are doing." He threw up his hands. "No more apologies! So we're poor! All right, we're poor! This is America! And America is one place in this sory world where people shouldn't have to apologize for being poor. The question in America should be, 'Is this guy a good citizen? Is he honest? Does he pull his own weight? " ... " The Rhode Island Rosewaters have been active, creative people in the past, and will continue to be in the future." he told her. "Some have had money, and some have not, but, by God, they've played their parts in history! No more apologies!"

I've been reading Slaughterhouse-Five (again) and there's a passage near the end where Billy is being interviewed at a radio station and one of the other interviewees speculates that the function of the novel in modern society is "to describe blow-jobs artistically." This made me think of a passage in Gravity's Rainbow where Pynchon does exactly that. I can't find it now as it would take me all day but it really is a fantastic description of a blow-job (probably better than any actual blow-job I've ever had). So, given that Slaughterhouse-Five was published in 1969 and Gravity's Rainbow in 1973, is it possible that Pynchon, tongue-in-cheek, thought "yeah, I'll have a go."

If anyone has any author suggestions similar to Kurt Vonnegut I would be very receptive. I am looking to expand my collection of novels and currently am lacking in fiction (Kurt Vonnegut is my go to fiction writer).

Hey, in our most recent episode with award winning digital creative director, Sean Earley, I opened with an essay tribute to Kurt that I wrote during the week. Would love any feedback if anyone enjoys that kind of thing?

An older woman, maybe in her 60s saw that I had a Vonnegut novel in my hand and said to me "You're reading that?" When I said yes and that Vonnegut was a favorite author of mine, she gave me a such a stank look and disapproving glare as I exited.

I think the book may have been Cat's Cradle or Sirens of Titan.

Has this ever happened to anyone and why do you think she reacted like that?

I own and have read almost all of his novels and am just now digging into his entire collection of short stories. There are obviously some tongue in cheek aspects to his work but I've never been outright offended by anything he's written. Such a quick interaction but has stuck in the back of my mind.